SHANGHAI, China, Dec. 20 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- The once-overwhelming VICS system of Japan eventually may not find its place in the China market. Tongyan Qi, key propeller of China real-time traffic information services and chief of the State Traffic Information Service Workgroup, sets forth in a panel discussion on NaviForum Shanghai 2007, the largest international navigation event organized by China government, that, though trial use of the VICS system is underway in Guangzhou and Dalian, it will not be used as the standard for China real-time traffic information; China will formulate its own standard instead.
Western countries have set up sound real-time traffic information distribution systems, which serve as major components of the ITS. The VICS of Japan and RDS-TMC of Europe are widely used in various areas. In China, however, no sound real-time traffic information service system is available till now. With the 2008 Beijing Olympics approaching, all circles express anxiety about the traffic congestion in Beijing, which further stresses the urgency of formulating a unified real-time traffic information service standard.
Tongyan Qi clearly indicates on NaviForum Shanghai 2007 that China will not adopt VICS, which undoubtedly will stimulate the European and Japanese automakers and Tier1 who have great ambitions for the China market. Japanese system venders' navigation systems can often be compatible with both VICS and TMC, yet European companies are unable to make their products compatible with the close-end Japanese VICS. Qi’s expression accords with the all-long tendency for the Chinese government to follow Europe in terms of the navigation industry.
“We, the Olympic Traffic Management Center, have established an ITS platform to collect and distribute traffic information and perfect the Olympic traffic management scheme, especially work about traffic information services," says Changqing Zheng from the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau (BTMB) on NaviForum this year. As an exclusively functional division of Beijing roadway traffic management, BTMB collects traffic information and traffic control information through sensors and cameras. The information about road construction and traffic accidents provided by BTMB is so far the most accurate and reliable data source in Beijing. BTMB demonstrated the TMC-based real-time traffic information and accident information distribution on the ITS World Congress held in Beijing this October.
